Moving Picture Show, Jürg Lehni

The current migration from analogue to digital movie
projections in cinemas across the globe is slowly rendering
the medium of 35mm motion picture film obsolete, along
with the technical equipment used to produce and screen
such film.
In Moving Picture Show, a scenario of production of
animated drawings and text is created by reappropriating a
process normally used by the film industry to etch subtitles
into the emulsion layer of 35mm film using a high-powered
precision laser. By etching away the emulsion, only the clear
base of the film remains. Projected onto the screen, the
lines appear bright and clear.
Changing the working range of the laser and replacing
the software interface to such a machine leads to new
possibilities: Animations and full-frame drawings can be
realised on top of film. The film can either consist of
existing material, film created purely for this purpose, or
black, non-developed film.
During the 23rd International Poster and Graphic Design
Festival in Chaumont, the jesuits chapel will be transformed
into a workshop, a scenario of conception, production and
projection of a series of short films produced in this way.
Several contributing designers and artists are invited to
engage with the production facility and collaborate on the
contents of the show, producing films that will be projected
repeatedly during the festival. Meanwhile the laser machine
which is also present in the chapel is slowly producing new
films for future screenings.